One of the most intriguing names invited to the Canucks prospect development camp was Michael Carcone, who was one of the most dangerous goalscorers in the QMJHL last season. Carcone evidently made an impression at camp, as he has reportedly signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Canucks.
This is according to J.D. Burke of Canucks Army, who apparently has sources now, which makes sense when you consider how many former Canucks Army writers now work in the NHL.
Carcone made an impact in the public scrimmage at the end of camp, showcasing his silky hands and finish around the net, scoring one goal. You can see him in the highlights from the scrimmage the Canucks posted on YouTube:
Carcone makes his first appearance at 1:22, skating through the neutral zone, then burning Lukas Jasek on the outside before evading Troy Stecher’s pokecheck and tucking the puck around goaltender invitee Rylan Parenteau. It’s a lovely goal and it wasn’t his only standout moment
He shows up again at 1:53, skating in alone on Parenteau, neatly deking past the pokecheck and forcing a nice save. He then takes a pass from fellow invitee Kyle Maksimovich, deftly chips the puck over Brock Boeser’s stick in the high slot, and forces another great save from Parenteau, who snags it with his glove.
Now those are just two moments from a prospect camp scrimmage, so it’s not exactly NHL-level play, but those moments do show some incredible skill. Presumably the Canucks liked what they saw from him throughout the rest of the camp and added that to his stellar season for the Drummondville Voltigeurs.
Carcone scored 47 goals and 89 points in 66 games for the Voltigeurs, landing him second in the QMJHL in goals and eighth in points. Even keeping in mind that it was his 19-year-old season, that’s impressive production.
One concern might be that he carried a sky-high 20.3% shooting percentage, so you can rightly question how much of his goalscoring was a matter of percentages. That said, Carcone did fire a lot of shots on net, finishing 17th in the QMJHL with 231 shots, right behind fellow recent Canucks signing Yan-Pavel Laplante’s 233. And a lot of those shots came from dangerous areas, as he was eighth in the league in “Dangerous Shots,” which seems to be how the QMJHL refers to scoring chances.
Here’s what I wrote about Carcone from the invitee posts earlier this week:
Carcone was heavily leaned on by the Voltigeurs, along with his linemate Alex Barre-Boulet, who also scored 89 points. The duo each had more than twice as many points as the next highest scorer on the team, defenceman Frederic Aube, who had 41 points and was also invited to camp by the Canucks.
There are a couple reasons Carcone went undrafted. One is his size, as he’ll be tied for the lightest at camp with Burghardt and returning invitee Curtis Valk. The other is that he played in Junior A in his first draft-eligible year and simply didn’t stand out with 37 points in 49 games.
Carcone was a dangerous scorer all season, so it’s pretty obvious why the Canucks would be interested: they struggle to score goals and need more goalscorers in the pipeline. The question is whether the rest of his game is well-rounded enough to survive at the next level.
Carcone seems well worth signing; guys like him who score that many goals, even in his 19-year-old season, have a chance at an NHL future.
It seems like the Canucks agreed with that last sentiment: Carcone was worth signing. Here’s hoping he has an NHL future.
